This invention relates generally to portable electronic devices, and more particularly, to updating these portable electronic devices using a rechargeable battery.
Portable electronic devices, such as portable communication devices, including land mobile radios, typically include some type of firmware that internally controls various operations of the portable communication devices. The firmware is usually one or more programs to enable the basic operation of the devices, as well as provide higher level functions of the devices. The firmware normally resides in memory within the portable communication devices, for example, in a Read-Only-Memory (ROM) or a flash memory that allows erasing and/or reprogramming.
Updating the firmware in a fleet of portable communication devices, such as a pool of land mobile radios used by a group (e.g., fire department), typically requires removing each of the portable communication devices from service and updating the devices individually. This process of updating the portable communication devices results in significant overall down time and inconvenience for users. The users may also have to wait for the updating process or use a loaner device. Thus, the updating process is time consuming and can be costly to operations.
Known methods that attempt to reduce the down time of the updating process include updating the firmware over the air, for example, using radio-frequency (RF) bandwidth. However, using the RF bandwidth can congest the RF network for normal communications, thereby affecting the overall performance of the communication system. Additionally, the over air updating process can be a very slow process because of the data transfer rates when using the RF bandwidth or having other communications take priority over the updating.